


Could We Ever Get Along?

by InnominateObject



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), School of Dragons (Video Game)
Genre: Bickering, Dragon Riders, Dragon's Edge (How to Train Your Dragon), Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Romance, F/M, Rival Relationship, Rivalry, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:01:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26574172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InnominateObject/pseuds/InnominateObject
Summary: Audra is a twenty year old student at the school of Dragons. Her journey starts with captured students and ends with Dragon Hunters. What about in between?
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

The Assembly

I had never had an ounce of respect for Eret, son of Eret until this moment. Because even though he used to trap dragons and he teased me relentlessly, I had to say that for Hiccup to trust him enough to put him in charge of a mission was saying something.  


I glared at the letter I received. It wasn’t signed, but I knew Hiccup’s writing style when I read it. I would’ve laughed at his attempt to mimic the former trapper if it weren’t for the fact that I was furious with both of them. Either Eret asked Hiccup to convince me to go, or Hiccup was behind this whole thing. It didn’t matter though, because even though I was the same age as the gang, I never went on missions. I preferred to deal with domestic issues like patrolling, and keeping the twins in line.  


I managed to keep my anger down enough to scratch my cooing night terror under his chin. Nightstorm sat on my shoulder as I walked down to Berk’s docks. My titan skrill, Lightning Storm, followed just behind me. I could hear his grumbling. He wasn’t fond of the trapper either.  


“I know how you feel, Lightning.” I gave Nightstorm one last pet. My female death song, Orchestra, was quiet the whole way to the docks. That was no surprise. She was a very well-mannered dragon. In fact, all of mine were. Well, all except Sunfire.  


I’d almost forgotten why we had come down there until my annoyance hits full-force at the sight of Eret. He was talking to a few other students. That’s a relief. At least there will be other people to serve as a barrier between us. Around the students, fishers, traders, and merchants bustle around, exchanging goods and rumors.  


I stalked up to the former trapper, my temper on my tongue. There were so many dragons around I had to nudge past some, but that didn’t put out the fire in me. Hiccup and Astrid were nearby, and Hiccup noticed me first. He bit his lip, scratched the back of his head, and hid behind a few of the other students.  


Eret gauged Hiccup’s reaction and turned to me. He grinned, spreading his arms wide. “Audra! What a joy it is to see your smiling face,” he exclaimed with unveiled sarcasm.  


I ignored him and pointed at him, my finger mere centimeters from his chest. “Nice try, Eret, son of Eret. Would anyone like to explain to me why I was invited?” I turned my glare from the burly man in front of me to Hiccup, who decided to poke his head out from behind Eret. I tapped my foot.  


“Well, the simplest explanation I can give you is that we are assembling a rescue party. Icestorm Island has been taken over by a group called the Ravers. We want you to help with the mission.” He gave me a pointed look.  


My lip curled. The Ravers. Of course. I’m the one who told him about them when I was out near Eruptodon Island on a patrol. I crossed my arms, considering, but not yet willing.  


To my irritation, Eret decided to open his mouth. “Yes, because we would all love to have the most antisocial person possible working with a team of other people.” Nightstorm, at least, growled in defense for me. Eret just rolled his eyes. “We’d all love for you to come on board, too, Tiny.”  


“Wait, we’re going by ship?” Didn’t the letter say to bring dragons?  


“No, I’m going by ship while Skullcrusher pulls it. Why? Afraid of the water, Your Shyness?”  


This time Lightning Storm snarled. I guess Lightning and I had similar expressions on our face, because Eret laughed. Laughed.  


“No wonder you chose Sparky. You two have the exact same face.”  


“That’s it,” I shouted. My fury wound my arm back, ready to punch him straight in that blue tattoo when both Hiccup and Astrid grabbed me and pulled me back. That man just stood there with crossed arms and the most smug expression on his face. I wanted to punch it off of him so bad.  


“Maybe this was a bad idea after all,” Hiccup muttered. He and Astrid shoved me into Lightning’s embrace. The skrill enveloped me in his wings like a cage. I crossed my arms at his pointed look.  


“Don’t look at me like that,” I mumbled. He relaxed his wings to the side so that I could see Hiccup and Eret debrief the other students. Now that I noticed, the students were all older, maybe sixteen and older. This was probably for experience. Then I noticed that half of them were still looking at me with wide eyes. I gritted my teeth and shielded my face with a hand.  


I zoned out and stared at the water. I’ll admit that I didn’t like the idea of crossing the ocean, but at least I’d be doing it from a dragon’s back. Just like patrolling. Except over waters that could freeze you in a matter of minutes. And waters that were filled with wild dragons.  


I came out of my stupor when Hiccup and Eret talked about the Ravers. Apparently they’d had time to scout the island.  


Eret held his arm out my way. “. . . so we’ll let this lovely young lady tell you all about the Ravers.”  


From beside Eret, Hiccup face palmed and dragged his hand down his face. My temper started to spark again. “No, Eret, we’ll tell them on the way to Armorwing Island. I hope you all brought rations.”  


I didn’t, but I was too embarrassed to say anything about it. Earlier I was too enraged to think about anything other than comebacks to Eret’s stupid quips. And now it came back to haunt me. I sighed.  


I was adjusting the saddlebags on Lightning Storm when someone tapped me on the shoulder. Oh, wow. I’m so surprised that Eret came to harass me once more.  
He took my palm and slapped something in it. With a wink, he said, “Don’t get lost at sea.”  


I looked at the compass, then at him, forcing as much deadness into my eyes as possible. “Ha ha,” I deadpanned. Then I mounted Lightning and glared at his back as he retreated to the wimpy ship parked at the docks. Skullcrusher was already tied to it. The rumblehorn caught me looking and snorted. Eret looked back at me from the corner of his eye and smirked.  


Ugh. I nearly sneered, but the girl beside me on a scauldron with gorgeous coloring spoke up. She seemed timid. “Why don’t you like him?” she whispered.  


“Because he can’t be trusted.” I almost narrowed my eyes in his direction, but then he’d probably notice again.  


“Oh.” She patted her dragon, who gave me a curious look before taking off.  


Nightstorm flitted from my shoulder to Orchestra’s head. I nudged Lightning, and we followed suit. I pulled beside her. “Why, is he your favorite teacher?”  


Her face turned red. “Yes. He taught me how to extract Meri’s venom to make a cure.”  


Cute. Then he’ll just keep that venom and wait to use it on one of us. I gave the girl a pity-filled smile. “What’s your name?”  


“Elaine.” She added quickly, “I already know yours. You’re Audra.”  


“Yes,” I said warily. “I am.”  


Elaine looked at Orchestra. “That’s a pretty death song. There aren’t many around the school.”  


I nodded, following her gaze. Nightstorm was singing with Orchestra. Lightning Storm huffed at them in amusement. “Yeah. They can be dangerous to be around. But Orchestra likes to eat eels anyway. Plus, she’s a total sweetheart.”  


Elaine hummed in agreement. I took the break in conversation to look around. There were only four other students, including Elaine. A girl rode a massive timberjack, a boy rode another rumblehorn, the other boy rode a very shiny razorwhip, and the other girl rode a groncicle. I realized I was the only one who brought multiple dragons. Well, the letter had said to bring at least Orchestra.  


I thought back to the Ravers. I’d seen the ships pass by, but I’d made Lightning touch land while they sailed past so they didn’t spook. The mysterious tribe had the sigil of a whispering death on their sails. I hadn’t seen any of the people up close, but they all wore furs and dark cloths over their faces. It’d always made me wonder if they were hostile. Now I knew.  


Apparently some students that had been on Icestorm Island on a field trip had been held hostage by the Ravers. The tribe hadn’t reached out to Berk, much less the school. Maybe it was because the students hadn’t told any of them where they were from. Either way, it made me anxious to get them and their dragons home safe.  


Elaine moved from beside me to closer to Hiccup. The Chief of Berk was talking, and I could barely hear him from the back. I didn’t move though. No need to keep any other student from being able to hear.  


To my surprise, Astrid slowed Stormfly to coast beside me. “The Ravers?” I asked.  


She nodded, glancing back at Hiccup. “He’d assembled a team of riders a couple of weeks back with dragons that could sneak around the island to scout it out. We still don’t know much. The spies had said that they’d only seen the Ravers go into Mildew’s hut.”  


“Maybe the students are being kept in the caves?”  


She hummed. “Maybe. They didn’t go in there in case they were spotted.”  


Made sense. “Is that the angle we’re going in from?”  


Astrid nodded, looking at Hiccup again. “And hopefully we’ll get to Armorwing Island by nightfall. Then we’ll rest until the next night and go from there.”  


Under the cover of darkness. Perfect. I shivered as the air became colder.


	2. Armorwing Island

We’d been flying for a few hours, and by the time we got to Armorwing Island, everyone was yawning. Even the dragons seemed exhausted. I could barely stand, my legs had lost circulation for so long. Lightning Storm offered me his shoulder to prop myself on, which I took with a quiet thanks.  
Armorwing Island was no impressive place. And while I’d flown past it many times, I’d never stepped foot there. It was bland. Circular rock formations coming out of the ground was the only thing interesting about it. Plus, there was barely any vegetation.  
Once my legs could function properly, I sidled up next to Hiccup and Astrid, who were discussing something while holding a map. “What’s the plan?”  
Hiccup didn’t look at me. “Gather some wood for a fire and get as much sleep as possible. In the morning we’ll send scouts north to determine how bad the weather is. If it’s mild, we’ll come around back and go to the caves first. If it’s bad . . .” His eyes swooped up to meet mine. “We’ll have to stay here another night.”  
“Who’s going to search?”  
“Actually, I was thinking about sending a dragon that could handle the weather. We’ll send either your skrill, the groncicle, or the scauldron. Then they could signal us.”  
I nodded. Off to the sides, the students had already started to gather some firewood. Behind us, the groan of wood could be heard. Hiccup, Astrid, and I swiveled our heads to see Eret pull up in his ship. I still don’t know why on earth we brought that thing. For Thor’s sake, it didn’t even have a sail.  
Skullcrusher didn’t seem as worn out as he should have been. Maybe it was a rumblehorn thing. Once Eret untied Skullcrusher from it, he jogged over. He opened his mouth, but Hiccup held up a hand, and the trapper closed it.  
Hiccup debriefed Eret on the situation. I kept an eye on the students. It seemed they’d already collected what little wood there was around us. There weren’t even any trees in sight. Nightstorm was sitting by the students. I smiled when one of them tried to goad him into lightning the fire. After a moment, he complied and was rewarded by pets from everyone.  
Astrid suddenly snagged my arm and dragged me away from the group. For a moment I thought she was going to scold me for something, but then she said, “Do you mind flying around the island looking for more firewood?”  
I crossed my arms and settled on a hip. “We can’t just dismantle the boat Eret brought and use that for firewood?” I dead-panned.  
“No. That ship has a purpose.”  
“Oh, really?”  
“Just go,” she snapped, shoving me towards Lightning Storm.  
I patted the titan skrill’s side. He turned his gaze from Nightstorm playing with the students to me. Orchestra was curled up beside him. “How tired are you?” I asked.  
He snorted in response.  
“Good. We’re going to get more wood.”  
Lightning then looked at the ship.  
“Yeah, I know. But Astrid said no. Come on, big boy.”  
Lightning groaned as he stood. I emptied the saddlebag of everything except for the knives I’d brought and then mounted him. We took off.  
The night was clear, and the stars were vibrant. Even though I’d love nothing more than to lay on a rock pillar and admire them, my eyes could barely stay open. I almost dozed off multiple times.  
Lightning began to descend. I forced myself to stay awake long enough to see a small forest. Perfect. “Good job.”  
Lightning touched down in a small clearing near the rocky cliffside. Even though we’d landed next to a small forest, the trees were short and thin, and there were only a few of them. I guess it made sense: Amorwing Island was nothing but a heap of wet rock in the middle of the ocean.  
I took out a large knife and began sawing at one tree. Lightning Storm worked on another, turning his head to the side and snapping it with his powerful jaws. I wished I’d asked Astrid if I could use her ax.  
My skrill and I spent a few minutes gathering wood in silence when Lightning suddenly perked up. I held up my knife, staying still in my crouched position next to the pile of wood. We didn’t have any cover. Just past the trees was the ocean. I checked the compass. Lightning and I were on the northwestern side of the island. If a ship were to pass by, they’d see us, even through the forest.  
“Lightning,” I whispered. I don’t know if the fact that my hairs were standing on end was because of my fight or flight response or because Lightning was getting charged up.  
The only noise was the ocean. It was currently low tide, so anyone on a ship would have trouble getting to us.  
We stayed there for what felt like hours, listening. Then the wind began to blow. And when it blew, it whistled in such an eerie way it made my skin prickle. Something was definitely wrong.  
And then I saw a ship. It was no impressive thing. No, it was about the size of Eret’s. Its sails were pitch black, almost impossible to see. The moonlight caused the white whispering death sigil on it to glow. The boat was moving far too slow to catch us. It was like a phantom gliding across the water.  
The sound of my breathing became louder. I could feel my heart beating in anticipation. I was going to say to Lightning that we shouldn’t move in case they don’t see us until I realized something.  
There was no one on that ship.  
“Lightning,” I whispered again. The skrill still didn’t move, so neither did I. The only thing I dared move was my eyes.  
What happened next was a blur. One moment Lightning was gathering a lightning blast in his mouth, the next he was collapsed on the ground, unable to move.  
I could hear the whistle of something moving fast. And only when my arm fell limp at my side did I realize what had found us: a speed stinger. I was about to open my mouth to scream when I felt another prick in my skin. I couldn’t move now, and I face planted on the ground next to Lightning.  
There were footsteps nearby, but I couldn’t move my head to look up. Black boots studded with metal came into view, and the person huffed. Panic filled every ounce of my being.  
Lightning let out a small noise. I wish I could see him. I’d rather look at him as I died rather than the shoes of my killer.  
He made another noise, but this time it wasn’t a grunt. It was higher-pitched, and louder. A flash of light barreled into the Raver, and they flew backwards and hit a tree. The speed stinger ran off. I urged feeling into my limbs, but I still couldn’t move.  
Wing flaps sounded behind me. My nerves lit up. It was another Raver on a dragon, and they were going to kill us.  
“Audra?”  
It was Astrid. Thank Thor. She walked around and came into view, crouching down to look at me. Concern was written all over her face. She glanced behind her and then looked behind me.  
“Tie him up,” she told someone. A boy came into view and jogged over to the unconscious Raver while Astrid hoisted me up. The boy’s rumblehorn and Stormfly were standing behind Lightning Storm, watching him with pity. The titan skrill looked absolutely miserable.  
I wanted to comfort him, but the speed stinger’s venom won’t wear off for a few more hours. Astrid must’ve seen the worry on my face.  
“Stormfly and Scarab can carry him. You can ride on Scarab since his saddle is an actual seat.”  
I would’ve nodded if it weren’t for the fact that I was paralyzed. I managed to grunt and look in the direction of the student, who was finishing tying up the Raver. Astrid followed my gaze.  
“Matheas will stand on Scarab behind you to make sure you don’t fall off while this guy rides with me.”  
Astrid and Matheas tied me to Scarab’s saddle with some extra rope. The student patted my shoulder. “Don’t worry, Audra. We won’t let anything happen to you.”  
I snorted my thanks.


End file.
